Time After Time
by Zelono
Summary: When Acnologia attacked Fairy Tail, Natsu was the only survivor. Thanks to a certain dark wizard, he gets a chance to go back in time and save his friends. Now the dragon slayer must relive his past battles, while also gaining the strength to defeat Acnologia and dealing with that annoying voice in his head.
1. Prologue

Time After Time

Everything hurt. Natsu's arms hurt, his legs hurt, and as he looked at the wreckage of the guild that he had called home, Natsu's heart hurt as well. To think, thirty minutes ago everything was going well.

Then Acnologia had appeared. Now all of Natsu's friends were dead. The pink-haired dragon slayer managed to drag himself to his feet and start looking for survivors, but it was starting to seem futile. "Master," Natsu sobbed, as he passed the body of the former guild master, Makarov. "And Erza. Mira. Even Laxus." As he reached the body of Fairy Tail's youngest dragon slayer, Wendy, Natsu collapsed into tears. "Why!" he screamed. "Why did this have to happen? If only I was stronger." Through his sobbing, the dragon slayer thought he heard a faint tapping sound. _Is that… footsteps? _ Natsu's heart leapt, believing that there was at least one more survivor. His excitement quickly turned to rage when he saw who the footsteps belonged to.

"What are you doing here?" Natsu growled. "I came here to talk to you, Natsu," was the calm reply. "Well you can talk to my fist." The pink-haired teen rose and tried to run towards the dark mage in front of him, but instead collapsed to the ground. "Dammit. Whatever, just go ahead and kill me, Zeref." The young-looking mage raised an eyebrow. "Giving up? I expected more from you Salamander." Natsu simply rolled over onto his back, looking up at the sky. "What's it matter anyway? Everyone else is dead."

"Do you want to save them?"

"What?"

"I can send you back. Do you want to save them?"

"You can travel through time now?"

"I can do things you wouldn't believe. But you haven't answered my question."

"Why would you wanna help me?"

"I wouldn't. I want to help myself." Zeref began walking towards the fallen dragon slayer. "You see, Even my Death Magic is unable to kill Acnologia. Only a dragon slayer could do so." Natsu struggled to sit up as the dark mage approached. "Why would you even want him dead? You did create him after all." Zeref smirked. "That's not really of any concern to you," he replied. "I want Acnologia dead, and looking around here I'm assuming you do as well." Zeref now stood in front of Natsu. "You aren't strong enough to kill him, and I can give you time to gain that strength," the dark mage continued, offering his hand to the pink-haired young man. "So what do you say Natsu, do we have a deal?"

_Why does it feel like I'm making a deal with the devil here? _Natsu thought to himself. _Then again, it's not like I have anything left to lose. I don't have any other options either. _He then began to raise his hand. _I just know somehow I'm going to end up regretting this._ His hand met Zeref's in a weak handshake, then he felt magic power stirring up around him. "Good choice Natsu," Zeref said over the roar of energy around them. "Try to do better this time around." Then Natsu felt himself pulled away as the world faded to black.

* * *

Natsu awoke to a gentle rocking and the sound of waves crashing against something. As he regained his bearings, the dragon slayer began to feel sick. "Oh come on," he groaned. "Don't tell me I'm on a boat!" He then heard a voice in his head say; **That's exactly where you are actually.** Natsu jumped. "What the? Zeref, where are you?" **I'm in your head. Well, not really. Where I am is a secret, just know that I'm talking to you telepathically. **"Whatever. Why am I, urggh, on a boat?" **Because I refuse to be partners with someone who can be stopped by the rocking of a ship. **"Well how is this helping?" Natsu asked while struggling to his feet. "Where is this thing headed anyway?" Natsu could almost hear the laughter in the dark mage's voice when he spoke. **Nowhere. **

_What_. Natsu blinked. "What the hell do you mean we're not going anywhere?!" Natsu yelled before clutching his stomach and collapsing. **You're going to have to steer it yourself. **The dragon slayer sighed. _How am I supposed to do that? _Natsu then began looking around. He was on the upper deck of a large wooden ship. The deck was empty except for a few crates, a flight of stairs that lead to the lower level, and a steering wheel. "Fine then," Natsu said as he crawled towards the steering wheel. "I can make this thing move with magic, right?" **You can, but I wouldn't suggest you do it now. **"Yeah well last time I listened to one of your suggestions I ended up lost at sea." **Have it your way then.**

The dragon slayer struggled to his feet, using the steering wheel as leverage. He then paused. _Wait, how do I power this thing? _**I would say use an SE-plug, but with that pathetic weakness of yours, you probably don't have one.** "That doesn't help me at all. Could you stop mocking me and—" another wave crashed against the ship, knocking Natsu off balance and causing him to spin the steering wheel as he fell. Zeref suppressed a chuckle as the boat almost capsized before returning to its level position.

**Do you understand now why I said it's a bad idea? **"Not really," Natsu replied, stumbling to his feet once again. _**Figures**_ the dark mage thought to himself. **Fine then, if you really want to, just grab the steering wheel and channel your magic power into your hands and the ship will start moving. **"Ok." Natsu planted his hands on the steering wheel and began to focus his magic. "Wait, which am I supposed to be going?" **Honestly, it doesn't matter, **Zeref replied nonchalantly. _Thanks _Natsu thought. _That tells me exactly nothing._ "What do you mean by that?" Natsu asked the evil voice in his head. **It doesn't matter because sooner or later…**

"Sooner or later what?"

**Wait for it…**

"Wait for wha—" Natsu was interrupted once again by a wave. Once again he lost his balance, and once again, he spun the steering wheel on his way down. This time, however, the momentum of the boat caused it to begin to capsize.

As he was hanging onto the railing for dear life, the pink-haired dragon slayer heard laughter inside of his head. **Wait for that, **Zeref said between laughs. Natsu opened his mouth to reply when the boat tipped over further. **You really might want to do something about that. **"Yeah yeah, I got it," Natsu said as he pulled his fist back. _**He can't be thinking what I think he is **_Zeref thought. _**Then again, he really is that dumb. **_**Natsu, that's a really bad idea. **"Well I don't have any better ones," was the dragon slayer's reply as he released his hold on the railing. As he fell towards the center of the ship, flames began to gather around his fist. "Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"

As he watched Natsu blast a hole in the middle of the boat, two thoughts were going through Zeref's mind. First, he thought _**well he is handling his motion sickness at the moment, so I guess this counts as progress. **_The second thought was a revelation that came just a little too late. _**I should have chosen Gajeel for this instead.**_


	2. Shut up Zeref

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or any Fairy Tail characters.**

Chapter 1: Shut up Zeref

This had been the longest two months of Natsu's life. After smashing the boat he had been stranded on, the dragon slayer was forced to use the remains as a makeshift raft. As if that wasn't bad enough, it had taken two weeks of watery hell for him to overcome his motion sickness completely. Life (and Zeref) piled on the misery from there, as Natsu realized upon reaching land that he had no idea where he had landed. Luckily, Zeref was willing to offer a few hints. Unluckily, Zeref was not willing to offer any _helpful_ hints. The second month of travel was simply Natsu trying to find out where he was and make his way back to Magnolia. And the icing on the Cake of Misery that was Natsu's predicament was that Zeref informed of the time that he had been sent back to.

When Natsu first arrived in the current timeline, it was five days after Lisanna had been believed dead. This also meant that it had been two days after Natsu had blown up at Elfman and Mira and run off. In the original timeline, Natsu had returned a day later to apologize. This time however, the dragon slayer was unable to apologize, both because he was unaware of the situation and because he had been lost at sea for two months.

_As if I didn't have enough reason to hate boats, _Natsu thought angrily. **Don't blame the boat; you're the one who said those hurtful things to your friends.** Natsu could hear the amusement in the dark wizard's tone.** And then you just vanished, without telling anyone where you were going. You're so inconsiderate Natsu. **_Shut the hell up. _Natsu yelled in his head._ Most of this is your fault. I may have said some mean things, but you're the one who sent me here and you're the one who put me on a damn boat. So just shut up._

**Well somebody's feeling crabby today. **_Well I did get attacked by a giant freakin crab. _**Yeah**.** Good times. Anyway, I didn't actually choose what time to send you back to. **_So I just happened to end up at one of the worst times of my life?_ **No. The thing about Time Travel Magic is that it always sends you to a time in your life that you don't want to relive.** _Wow that sucks. No wonder it's a lost magic._ Zeref laughed. **Yeah, time travel is probably the only lost magic that was forgotten intentionally.** The conversation died off at that point.

* * *

Natsu stood at the entrance to the Fairy Tail building for five minutes before Zeref got bored. **Yes Natsu, this is a very nice door, now why don't you open it? **_Shut up Zeref. I'm going to, just give me a couple of minutes to prepare myself. _**It's already been five minutes. **_Well just give me about twenty more and I'll be good to go. _ Unfortunately for Natsu, someone from the inside opened the door. Even worse for Natsu, that someone was Fairy Tail's resident manly man, Elfman Strauss. "Oh excuse me, didn't see you th— Natsu?" The two stared at each other, wearing similar looks of sadness.

Elfman was the first to break the silence. "Hi Natsu," he said awkwardly. "We've been looking for you." "Sorry. I just needed to get away for a while." Natsu looked down. "Listen Elfman. I'm sorry about what I said." Elfman gave a sad smile. "It's ok Natsu. You were right. If I was stronger, this wouldn't have happened."

"That doesn't mean it's your fault though," Natsu protested. "If I was stronger, maybe I could've gone with you guys. Does that mean it's my fault Lisanna's gone?" "What? Of course not. It's—" "Then it isn't your fault either," the dragon slayer interrupted. He then began thinking about his own situation.

"Honestly, it doesn't matter whose fault it was."

_They're still alive now._

"All you can really do now is keep living your life."

_And I'll keep it that way._

"And get stronger, so that next time, there won't be anything bad to blame on anyone."

_This time, I'll be strong enough guys. I promise._

Elfman could feel the determination radiating from Natsu. "That's right," Elfman replied. "That's how us men handle a crisis. So, where have you been these past couple of months?" Natsu quickly changed the subject. "Oh just out and about. How's Mira been?" Elfman frowned. "She's been pretty down recently. I think she'll be really happy to see you." "I'm hoping so. Is she in there now?" Elfman nodded. "I gotta go now. There are manly things that need to be done. See you around." The giant man then turned to walk away. Natsu cracked a brief smile as he reached out to open the door. _Maybe this won't be so bad after all. _**Say that enough times and I'm sure you'll be right eventually.** _Shut up Zeref_.

All eyes were on Natsu when he entered the guild hall. "Umm, hello everybody." The dragon slayer awkwardly waved at his guild mates. "Did you guys miss me?" He then spotted a blue cat flying towards him. "Happy!" "Natsu!" the blue cat yelled as he flew into a hug with the dragon slayer. "I missed you. Where were you? Why didn't you take me with you?" "I'm sorry buddy," the pink-haired teen replied. "I've had a lot on my mind recently. But don't worry. Everything's alright now." "I'm so glad you're back," Happy whispered. "Me too buddy." Natsu began looking for the white-haired bartender. He spotted her sitting by Cana, trying her best to disappear. _Here goes nothing. _"Can you excuse me Happy? There's someone I need to talk to." "Sure thing," the cat said happily. "Good luck Natsu."

Mira felt her panic rising the closer Natsu got to her. _Please walk past me. Please walk past me. Please walk past me._ Her hopes were dashed when the dragon slayer stopped in front of her. She felt tears sting her eyes as she looked up into his._ Natsu…_ She ran away as soon as Natsu opened his mouth to speak.

**Wow were you wrong. That couldn't have gone much worse. **_Shut up Zeref. _Natsu turned to run after the white-haired woman, but was cut off by the older-than-dirt Guild Master, Makarov. "I am glad to have you back Natsu," the old man said. "But do you have to keep torturing Mira?" "I didn't do anything," the dragon slayer protested. "She ran away before I got to say anything." "Can you really blame her? I mean last time you talked to her…" Makarov trailed off. _Dammit, _Natsu thought. _I can't even remember what I said. It's not fair for her to hold it against me. _**Why not? Even if it was a while ago to you, you did still say it. **_Shut up Zeref._ "I just want to apologize. So if you'll excuse me." The dragon slayer leapt over the old man and ran after Mirajane. The old man frowned as he watched the fiery teen leave. "Natsu, please don't screw this up."

* * *

"I didn't mean it Natsu." Mirajane sat on top of a hill, hugging her knees to her chest. "I know I was mean to you before, but I didn't mean any of it." The former Take Over Mage was trying to refrain from crying, but the more she thought about the past two months, the harder that became. First, her sister had died, and she knew it was her fault. Elfman had lost control of The Beast, but he only had to try to take it over because she was too weak to defeat it.

Then, when she and Elfman returned to the guild, she lost Natsu. Even if he hadn't vanished, Mira knew he would have ignored her anyway. She had spent the last two months trying to find him, and she really didn't know why.

_Not like he'll ever forgive me anyway, _the girl thought bitterly. _And why should he? We were never friends. I was just the mean girl who always picked on him. _Mira felt the sting in her eyes and couldn't hold back the tears any longer. "I'm sorry Natsu," she cried. "I didn't mean any of it. I didn't mean for any of this to happen." She froze when she felt a hand on her shoulder. "I know Mira," the owner of the hand said. "You don't need to apologize. I'm the one who needs to say I'm sorry." Mira looked down.

"You don't have to do this."

"What?"

"You don't have to apologize. I know you don't like me, and that it's my fault. So if you don't wanna talk to me anymore, it's ok."

"Mira…" Natsu moved around the white-haired girl to sit in front of her, but she quickly turned her face to the left. The dragon slayer moved to her left, but she then turned her head to the right. He followed to the right, but then Mirajane turned around completely. "Mira, what are you doing?" "Nothing," Mira mumbled. "Then look at me." "I can't. There's something in my eye." _Wow _Natsu thought. _I thought my excuses were bad. _ **Believe me, they are. **_Shut up Zeref._

"Mira, look at me," Natsu commanded, moving in front of her once more. "I'd rather not," Mira replied, burying her head in her arms. "Well you don't have a choice." The pink-haired teen grabbed her head and lifted her face level with his. "Really Mira?" Natsu asked when he saw that the mage had closed her eyes. "Why are you being so stubborn?" "I'm not. I just…"

"Do you think I'm ugly?" Mira's eyes shot open in panic. "No not at all! I didn't mean it like that. You're actually really cute." They both paused and Mira began to blush. "Umm, I mean, you're um… I give up." She buried her head in her arms again, praying for the ground to open up and swallow her whole. She was surprised when she felt a hand stroking her hair. "Thanks Mira, I think you're really pretty too."

Mira looked up to see Natsu smiling at her. She turned her head again when she felt her cheeks heating up. Luckily, Natsu started laughing when she did, so he was oblivious to her embarrassment. "What's so funny?" the Take Over mage asked the Salamander. "Nothing," Natsu replied as he allowed himself to fall onto his back. "I'm just relieved. I've been so tense on my way back to Fairy Tail. I was scared to talk to you." "Why?" Mira inquired. "I thought you would hate me. I said some pretty terrible things. I'm sorry, Mira."

For the first time in a month, Mira allowed herself to smile. "Thank you Natsu," she said, lying down next to him. "I've felt the same way since you've been gone. I wanted to find you, but I was really scared to see you again. I thought you hated me, because Lisanna…" she trailed off. "Let's be friends, Natsu." Natsu turned his head to look at her. "We are friends, aren't we?" Mira looked up at the sky. "I don't think so," she responded. "I mean, all we ever do is argue. But I don't want to argue anymore."

_What's she talking about? _Natsu thought. **You're in the past, remember? **_Oh yeah. To me we've been friends for years, but to her we've never been friends. You know, this is really weird. _**It seems like an easy problem to fix though. She's offering to be your friend right now. Why were you so scared to talk to her? **_I don't know. I guess I was expecting her to try to kill me. _**I'm still not seeing a problem. It's not like she would succeed. And even if she did, I could just send you back again. I have another boat. **_Hell no! I am not going through that again. If I die, leave me that way._

"Natsu are you listening?"

"Huh? Oh sorry. I zoned out for a bit."

"Oh. Well don't worry about it. I wasn't saying anything important."

"Ok then." **Don't be stupid. When someone says that they didn't say anything important, they obviously did say something important. **_Well she doesn't wanna tell me, I can't make her. _**At the very least you could ask. **_Ok, if it'll make you shut up, I'll ask._

"On second thought Mira, what were you saying?"

"Umm, it's probably better to just let it go."

"But I don't wanna."

"I really thi—" Mira stopped talking when she felt a weight on her chest. She turned her head to see that Natsu was almost lying on top of her. "C'mon Mira," the Salamander whined. "Please tell me. Please please pleaaaassssssssssseeeeeeeeeee." Mirajane was too focused on the fact that their chests were touching to listen to the dragon slayer. Displaying an incredible amount of obliviousness, Natsu completely ignored how red Mira's face was, instead focusing on getting her to talk. _**Wow **_Zeref thought to himself. _**Talk about a one track mind.**_ The dark mage decided to be nice this once and help Mira out. **Natsu, lean back a little, **he said to the dragon slayer. _Huh, why? __**Is it possible to be that dense? **_The evil mage asked himself. _**Well if he doesn't notice, I won't tell him.**_ Quickly thinking of an excuse, Zeref spoke to Natsu again.

**Because you're crowding her. The poor girl can barely breathe. Look at her face, she looks like a tomato. **The dragon slayer looked down to see Mira's incredibly flushed face. "Whoops," he exclaimed, sitting completely upright. "Sorry about that. Can you please tell me what you were saying earlier?" Mira sat upright as well, trying to compose herself. The girl opened her mouth, then hesitated. "It's a secret." She said with a smirk. "Aww man," Natsu pouted. "But I wanna know." "Too bad," Mira said in a sing-song voice. She then rose to her feet. "I think we should go back to the guild. Everyone's probably worried about us." Natsu rose to his feet as well. "Sure," he replied. "I needed to talk to Gramps anyway." Mira looked at the teen curiously. "About what?" Natsu smirked. "It's a secret." The dragon slayer then poked Mira's forehead and took off running towards the guild. "Hey wait. You can't do that." The white-haired teen began running after him. "Only I can do that. Get back here Natsu!"

* * *

"So you're telling me you're from the future?"

"Yes."

"Did you hit your head on something?"

"I'm being serious Gramps." Natsu and Makarov were inside of the old man's office, and Natsu was trying to explain his situation. "Yeah I know. I believe you." Natsu was stunned. The only thing he could say was, "Really?" The old man broke into a grin "Of course. Your story does sound farfetched, but it isn't the weirdest story I ever heard." Natsu smiled. "That would be Mystogan right? I guess time travel can't is nothing compared to an alternate dimension." The old man was a bit surprised. "You know about Edolas?"

"Yeah. We end up going there. That was a giant mess. Will be a giant mess I mean. Everything works out in the end though." "Glad to hear it," the guild master said, before changing the subject. "But about this time travel. You said you need to defeat Acnologia. I'm afraid I can't help you with that." Natsu nodded. "I know that. I just want you to train me Gramps." "I'm willing to train you, but I'm nowhere near strong enough to defeat that monster. You know that, right?" Natsu nodded once again. "Yeah I know. I know that even if I get as strong as you, I still won't be able to win. I just figure that if I can make it that far, I can figure out the next step then."

"It seems you've put some thought into this," Makarov told Natsu. He then began to laugh. "You really must be from the future. The Natsu I know never thinks." **The Natsu in front of you doesn't think either. I came up with this idea. **_Shut up Zeref. _"We'll start training tomorrow Natsu. But be warned, it's not gonna be easy." "After what I've been through recently, I think I'll be alright."

"Speaking of which, where have you been these past two months?"

"That's kind of a long story. When I first came back, I was stuck on a boat…"

* * *

"So, what did you and Master talk about?" Mira rose from the chair she had waited in. "Oh nothing much," Natsu responded. He then decided to have a little fun, and turned toward Mira wearing a serious face. "We're just kicking you out of the guild." Mira's expression turned to one of shock. "What? You're kidding right?" Her worry grew when she saw how serious Natsu looked. That worry turned to anger when the dragon slayer started laughing. "That wasn't funny Natsu!" She exclaimed as she lightly slapped the dragon slayer's arm. "Calm down Mira, It was just a joke." **A bad one, but a joke nonetheless. **_Shut up Zeref. _**You know, you say that a lot. **_And yet you keep talking. _**In my defense, annoying you is a lot of fun. **Natsu was about to respond to the evil voice in his head when he noticed Gray approaching.

"Hey flame head. It's been a while since I've seen you," the ice-make mage said. "It sure has," the dragon slayer responded. "Did you miss me, stripper?"

"As if. The only thing I missed was kicking your ass."

"You've never kicked my ass Pervert. The closest you ever came was when I hurt my hand punching you in the face."

The two were now butting heads. "Maybe I oughta kick your ass right now," Gray challenged. Mirajane took that as her cue to get far, far away and went to hide behind the bar counter. This was a good decision, because as soon after there was ice and fire flying in all directions. Not long after that, a brawl broke out between most of the guild. Makarov was watching with a smile from the second floor. _It's good to have you back, Natsu._

Natsu awoke the next morning under the remains of a table. _That was a lotta fun, _he thought to himself as he rolled the table off of him. _It's good to be back. _**How are you feeling? **The question surprised the dragon slayer. _It's strange of you to ask that Zeref. But I'm fine. Just a little sore, but I think I'll be ok in a couple of days. _**In that case, I take great joy in reminding you that you don't have a couple of days. You start training with Makarov today, remember? **_What. _The other passed out guild members were awakened by Natsu's cry. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"


	3. Beginning Again

Chapter 2: Beginning Again

**Disclaimer: Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima. I own nothing**

* * *

_I spy something green._

**It's a clock. **Natsu sighed. The two had been playing I Spy for twenty minutes. Well, Natsu was playing I Spy. Zeref was naming the things the dragon slayer was looking at with 100 percent accuracy. Natsu didn't know why he this surprised him. He already knew that the dark mage had some way of monitoring him.

_Why did I agree to play this game with you?_

**Because you're stupid.**

_Shut up Zeref._

Natsu was currently sitting in a café in Hargeon, the city where he would meet Lucy Heartfilia. Unfortunately, the teen could not remember what day he was supposed to meet her. Luckily, he did remember that they met in July. He had come to the town on the first and intended to wait for the celestial spirit mage to arrive. Today was the second of July, the day he Natsu and Lucy would meet, although the dragon slayer was not currently aware of this. Had he been aware, he likely would have jumped for joy. For probably the first time since he had come back in time, the universe (and Zeref) was not trying to torment the dragon slayer. If he had known this, Natsu would have been ecstatic. As it stood though, he was unaware, which was why he was slightly annoyed and very bored.

"Natsu, why are we here?"

It didn't help that Happy kept asking that.

"We're waiting for something, Happy."

"What are we waiting for?"

"I'll let you know when it happens." **You know, sitting in here all day isn't going to help you find her. **_I know that, I'm just waiting for the fake me to show up. _**He's outside now. **Natsu hopped up. _Really? Wait, how do you know that? _**Easy. I'm Zeref. **_That doesn't explain anything._ Natsu began walking to the door. "Hey Happy, let's go walk around for a bit." "Aye sir," the blue cat said as it flew after the dragon slayer.

_Do you have nothing better to do than watch me all the time?_** What else could I be doing? No one's supposed to know that I'm back until you kill Acnologia. **_What happens after I kill Acnologia? _**Don't worry about that. **_I really don't like that answer. _Zeref changed the subject. **You're pretty close to Fake Natsu. Just take a left on the next street and you should see him. **_How is it that you always know where I am? _**Easy. I'm Zeref. **Natsu waited for the dark mage to explain, but after a few seconds, he realized that wasn't going to happen. _Well that answered absolutely nothing. Care to expand on that? _**No. **_Bite me Zeref._

As Natsu turned the corner, he saw a crowd of women gathered around who he assumed was his imposter. It was only at this point that the dragon slayer realized he had no idea how to find Lucy. _Hey Zeref, you can see everything, right? Could you tell me how to get to Lucy? _**I could, but I think I've helped you enough. Good luck. **_You son of a bitch. _Natsu sighed. _Oh well, guess I better start searching. _He began looking around for his blonde soon-to-be-friend._ I wish I could still remember what she smelled like. _**Nothing creepy about that sentence. **_Shut up Zeref._ He then had an idea."Hey Happy, can you fly me up?" Natsu asked the blue cat. "I wanna see what everyone's looking at." "You got it Natsu," Happy responded as he lifted the dragon slayer into the air.

As he began looking around, the dragon slayer noticed something strange about all the girls. They were all staring at Fake Natsu with exaggerated hearts in their eyes. "What's going on?" he wondered aloud. **Charm magic, **Zeref responded. **It makes the targets infatuated with the user. Shouldn't you know this already? You've dealt with this guy once before. **_Yeah but I never actually knew what he was up to.__He was impersonating me so I took him down. _Zeref chuckled. **That's quite a simplistic view of the situation. **"I found her," Natsu shouted. "Found who?" Happy asked. "Oh, there's a girl down there that I want to talk to."

Having spotted Lucy, Natsu realized that there was another problem. _How do I introduce myself to her? I doubt 'hi I'm your best friend from the future' would cut it. _**Have you ever considered 'hi I'm Natsu, Nice to meet you?' **_Nah, that would never work._ Zeref facepalmed. **Then why don't you just drop down on top of her? **He suggested flippantly. _That's not a bad idea. _It was at this moment that Zeref was reminded of a thought that he had had two years earlier. _**I should have chosen Gajeel for this instead.**_

"Happy, drop me." The blue cat looked down in confusion. "What?" Happy questioned. "I said drop me." "I heard you. I just don't think that's a good idea." "What's the worst that could happen?" **You know I was just joking, right? This is actually a stupid idea.**"Oh come on. There's nothin' to worry about," Natsu said to both Happy and Zeref. "Ok," the blue cat responded as he released the dragon slayer.

* * *

"Look out below!" the dragon slayer shouted as he plummeted towards a now surprised blonde. Lucy was only able to scream before the pink-haired teen landed on top of her. "Whoops," Natsu chuckled as he made his way to his feet. "Sorry about that." He offered a hand to the celestial spirit mage. Lucy stared at the strange boy who had fallen on top of her. "Umm, did you just fall from the sky?" "Yeah I do that sometimes," the dragon slayer replied dismissively. "Anyway, my names Nat—" "Are you alright good sir?" Natsu had been cut off by his imposter. _Stupid imposter. Like I'd ever say 'good sir'. _**Really? He's using your name to pick up women and you're worried about how he talks. **_If he's going to impersonate me, he could at least talk like me. _**Glad to see you have your priorities in order Natsu. **

Natsu was pulled from his conversation with Zeref when a piece of paper was shoved in his face. He grabbed the paper and studied it to find the word 'Salamander' written on it. "Here's my autograph," the imposter said to the real Natsu. "Show it to your friends." He then turned towards the crowd again. "I appreciate your enthusiastic welcome, but I have some errands to run at the port." He snapped his fingers and flames gathered around his feet. "So please excuse me."

The flames shot into the air, carrying the imposter along. "We're having a party on the ship tonight," he called back to the women. "Please come." Then he was gone. The crowd of women quickly began to dispel, leaving Natsu and Lucy alone on the street. "Thanks for that," Lucy said to the dragon slayer. "Thanks for what?" Natsu asked. "Falling on top of you?" "Actually yes. That guy was using charm magic. It's a magic that attracts other people's hearts to the caster. Thanks to you falling on me, the spell broke." As he was about to respond, the dragon slayer heard the voice of his feline companion.

"Hey Natsuuuu," Happy interrupted in a sing-song voice. "Are you gonna introduce me to your lady friend?" Lucy stared at the floating blue cat that seemed to come from nowhere. "A talking cat?" she asked. "Yeah this is happy," Natsu said. "Happy, this is—" **You're not supposed to know her name, **Zeref interrupted. Natsu stammered, which Lucy took as a cue to introduce herself. "I'm Lucy," the blonde girl offered. "Lucy Heartfilia." "I'm Natsu. And the flying cat is Happy."

"Hello," Happy said. Lucy waved at the blue cat before turning her attention to Natsu. "Where do you find a talking cat?" she asked. "Edolas," Natsu responded, before realizing that that was something else that he shouldn't know. _Oh well, not like anyone else knows about it, _he thought to himself. "Edolas?" Lucy questioned. "I've never heard of that place." Natsu waved his hand dismissively. "Don't worry about it. So, were you gonna go to that guy's party?" Lucy paused for a moment before replying. "Maybe, I don't know." She began pacing. "I know that guy's a creep, but he is a member of Fairy Tail."

"You have an interest in Fairy Tail?"

"Of course! There are so many strong mages. I wanna get in, but I bet it'll be hard."

"Nah not really. I'll take you there when I'm done here."

"What?"

"I'm a Fairy Tail mage. If you wanna join, I'll take you to meet Gramps." Lucy's eyes lit up. "Really?" Natsu nodded as the blonde girl pulled him into a hug. "Oh thank you! Thank you! You're the best." "Yeah I know," the dragon slayer responded as he pulled himself free of her grasp. "I gotta go take care of something. Meet me at the port in an hour and we can leave." He then turned to walk away. "Come on Happy, we got a ship to sink." "Aye sir." Lucy stared after the duo. "Did he just say what I think he did?"She wondered aloud. "Well, Fairy Tail mages are known to be destructive. I wonder what kind of magic he uses."

* * *

The sight that met Lucy at the port made her second guess her decision to join Fairy Tail. There were bodies strewn around, and in the center stood Natsu. He was staring at a flaming boat and cackling like a madman while Happy flew around as if the mayhem around him was completely normal. "Umm, Natsu…" The dragon slayer was broken from his trance by the celestial spirit mage's voice. "Oh hey Lucy, you ready to go?" Lucy sweatdropped. "That's all you have to say?" Natsu gave her a confused look. "Well what else am I supposed to say?"

"You could start by explaining what happened here."

"Oh, that. These guys are slave traders. They were luring women on board to be sold. So I beat 'em all up."

"And why's the boat on fire?"

"No reason. I just really hate boats." Natsu turned to look at the remains of the boat and began cackling again. "Yeah, could you stop doing that? It's really creepy." The dragon slayer suddenly stopped laughing. "Uh oh," he said. "What's wrong?" Lucy asked.

"What's all this ruckus?!"

"Crap! It's the military." Natsu grabbed Lucy's hand as he ran away. **Natsu, why are you running away? **_Because the military's here. _**Yes, but all you've done is stop some slave traders. You haven't done anything to get on their bad side. You didn't even destroy anything, except for that boat anyway. **_Huh, you're right. It's just kind of instinct to run I guess. Oh well, no point in turning back now. _"Next stop, Fairy Tail!" Natsu shouted. "Yeah, next stop, Fairy Tail!" Lucy repeated. "Aye," Chimed in Happy.

* * *

_Well, first stop train, next stop, Fairy Tail. _"So, what do I have to do?" Lucy asked. "For what?" Natsu questioned. "To join the guild." Natsu waved a hand dismissively. "You pretty much just have to show up." Lucy stared at him. "Are you being serious?" The dragon slayer nodded. "Well you need to know magic of course, but other than that, pretty much anyone can join." The celestial spirit mage felt a weight lift off her soldiers. "So you could say that I'm pretty much already a member?" Natsu turned to offer the girl a smile. "Yep," he said happily. "Welcome to Fairy Tail."

"Welcome to Fairy Tail," echoed Happy from beside Natsu. "Aaaah!" Lucy shrieked. "I forgot you were there." "That's pretty rude ya know," the cat responded dryly. "Well excuse me, but a talking cat takes some getting used to!" Happy chuckled.

"I'm the least weird one here. You're gonna take some getting used to."

"Now who's being rude?"

"It's not rude if it's true."

"Whatever. Who asked you anyway?"

The girl and the cat continued to argue until Natsu burst into laughter. "Hey, what's so funny?" Lucy asked. "Your face obviously," Happy quipped. "Hey!" The dragon slayer finally decided to reign in his playful friend. "Happy, stop teasing Lucy." "Aye sir." _I've really missed this, _Natsu thought to himself.

It had been over two hours on the train, and both Happy and Lucy had fallen asleep. Natsu, however, stayed awake, lost in his thoughts. _It seems like forever ago that all of this happened. _**Depends on who you ask. For me, it may as well have been yesterday, but for you it really has been a long time. **_I guess it has been. I mean, if you include when I was trapped in Fairy Sphere it's been, what, thirteen years since all of this happened the first time around. It's been thirteen years since I first met Lucy, and couldn't stand vehicles, and thought Lisanna was gone forever… _Zeref understood that the dragon slayer was talking more to himself than to the dark mage, and allowed him to monologue.

_It's so strange though. It feels like it's been such a long time. So much has happened, will happen from now on. Yet at the same time, it all kinda passed in the blink of an eye. _Natsu then turned to look up at the sky, thinking about everything that was to come. **Never took you for the introspective type,** Zeref commented. _That's cause I don't even know what introspective means, _Natsu replied with a smirk. **That isn't something to be proud of.** _Shut up Zeref._

**Hey Natsu, let's play I Spy again. **_Why would I do that when you clearly cheat? _**I don't cheat. I just have a natural advantage. **_Yeah, the advantage of being a cheater! _**It's not like you have anything better to do anyway. **_Yeah whatever. I spy something… _**You're looking at Happy. **_You cheating son of a!_

* * *

"We're back!" Natsu yelled as he kicked the door to the guild open. "Hello Natsu," Mira greeted with a smile. "Hi Mira. This is Lucy." Natsu pointed to the blonde at his side. Said blonde shrieked at the white-haired mage in front of her. "Kyaah! You're Mirajane." Mira giggled. "Yeah, I know." "She wants to join the guild. Can you get her set up?" the dragon slayer asked Mira. "Sure. So, are you sticking around?"

"Yeah. We should hang out later. But right now…" Natsu pounded his fists together. "…Come here Gray! It's time for you to join the Wall of Conquest!" The dragon slayer then ran off to find his ice-wielding victim.

"Wall of Conquest?" Lucy asked. "He kicked a couple of guild members through a wall," Mirajane answered, pointing towards the far side wall of the guild. Lucy turned towards the wall, and was astonished by the sight. There were three perfectly formed silhouette holes in the wall. One appeared to be a very tall, muscular man. Another was shaped like a curly-haired figure with an almost completely round torso. The third was a winged woman with pigtails and wielding a sword. _Well those people definitely have some unique appearances _Lucy thought.

Lucy stopped studying the wall when she heard a crash. Turning towards the source of the noise, the girl saw a man with spiky black hair wearing nothing but a pair of boxers looking at a hole in the wall. "Looks like the tables have turned Natsu," the man spoke. "Looks like you're the first part of Gray's Wall of Ass-kicking." "Whatever, stripper!" Natsu yelled from the other side. "You're just lucky I'm not allowed to use my full strength inside the guild hall." "I guess we'll take it outside then." Gray then jumped through the hole to finish his fight with Natsu.

"Why was that guy half-naked?" Lucy asked the white-haired girl standing beside her. "Gray has a habit of taking randomly taking his clothes off," Mirajane answered. "You'll get used to it."

* * *

"Ice-Make:Arrows!" Natsu deftly dodged around the hail of arrows. Closing in on his opponent, the dragon slayer began to gather flames around his fist. "Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" Gray managed to parry the blow with his bow, but was unprepared for Natsu's follow-up kick.

Recovering quickly, the ice-make mage jumped back to create some space for his next attack. "Oh no you don't," Natsu shouted as he moved to close the distance. "Oh yes I do," Gray said smugly, freezing the ground around him. The flame user slipped on the icy ground, but regained his balance quick enough to barely dodge the frozen hammer that was swung at him. Seeing an opening, Natsu leapt forward, slamming his head into Gray's. This was followed by a flaming fist to the face, sending the ice user flying.

"That all you got flame-brain?"

"Not even close pervert."

The two began gathering their magic for another attack. "You ready for this?" Natsu smirked. "I'm always ready." Gray formed a bazooka made of ice, while Natsu gathered a large fireball between his hands.

"Ice-Make: Ice Cannon!"

"Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame!"

* * *

"There. Now you're a part of Fairy Tail."

"Yay!" Lucy exclaimed as she examined the newly stamped guild mark on her hand.

*BOOOOOOM*

"What was that?"

"Natsu and Gray most likely," Mira answered nonchalantly. "Should someone make sure they're ok?" "Nah, they'll be fine." There was another series of explosions, which Lucy swore were coming closer. "Are you sure?" Mira nodded. "Yeah, they do this sometimes. If you're worried about them, it sounds like they're coming back now." Lucy could now hear their voices in the distance.

"Stop running you coward!"

"Ok. Ice Blade: Seven Slice Dance."

"AAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!"

Lucy started walking towards the hole the battle had left, hoping to see the action. As she got close, Mira pulled her away. "That's not a good idea Lucy." The celestial spirit mage looked at her in confusion. "Why not?"

"Crimson Lotus: Exploding Flame Blade!"

This shout was shortly followed by Gray's forced re-entry into the guild. "That's why," Mira said dryly. She then walked over to make sure the ice-make mage was alright. After making sure the half-naked mage was breathing, Mirajane pulled out a notebook and jotted something down. "The score is now 7 to 4 in Natsu's favor," she told Gray. "Maybe you should just cut your losses."

"No way," Gray stated. "I'm not letting that idiot get the better of me." He sat up and began to look around. "Where'd my clothes go?" _He just realized, _Lucy mused in her head. "You keep score for their fights?" the blonde asked Mira. "Yeah. I keep score for a lot of the guild's rivalries." The white-haired mage handed her notebook to Lucy. Flipping through the notebook, she saw several pages of crossed out scores. Turning to the most recent page, she saw the current tallies;

Natsu-Elfman: 3-1

Natsu-Loke: 2-0

Natsu-Jet: 1-0-1

Natsu-Cana: 1-0

Natsu-Laxus: 0-3

Natsu-Erza: 1-2

Natsu-Gray: 7-4

Natsu-Master: 0-22

Looking over the list, something became quickly apparent to Lucy. "Why do all of these involve Natsu?" Mira recoiled slightly. "Oh, umm…"

"Didn't you know? Mira's all about Natsu."

"Shut up Gray!" Lucy stared at the now blushing woman. "So, you and Natsu…" "No!" Mira roared. The blonde jumped. "Jeez, I was just asking."

At that moment Natsu stumbled back in, carrying a small child. He stopped in front of Lucy and handed the boy off to her. "Romeo's worried about Macao," Natsu explained. "So I'm gonna look for him. See you when I get back." The dragon slayer then stumbled away. "Wait!" Lucy called after him. "Who's Macao? Who's Romeo? Where are you going?" The celestial spirit mage handed Romeo off to Mirajane and left in pursuit of Natsu. "Natsu wait."

Mira watched the duo in amusement until she felt an arm around her shoulder. She turned to see that it belonged to a still shirtless Gray. Judging from the smile on his face, she figured that he was about to say something she wouldn't like.

"You're just gonna let her run after your man huh?" Mira sighed.

"Just go put your clothes back on, you pervert."


	4. Zeref and Innuendo

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or any Fairy Tail characters.**

Chapter 3: Zeref and Innuendo

"We're back everyone."

"Oh, hey Natsu. Did you find Macao?"

Natsu and Lucy had just returned from their mission to find Macao, who had been taken over by a Vulcan. One punch from Natsu was all it took to defeat the beast, and then the group returned to Fairy Tail. "Yeah, he's with Romeo," the dragon slayer said as he took a seat in front of the bar. "Can I get my special order?" "Sure thing," Mira replied as she placed a dish of flaming meat in front of him. Natsu then tore into his meal. "This is really good Mira," he complimented, his mouth still full. "Hey Lucy, come try this."

"Are you crazy? I can't eat fire!"

"Not with that attitude you can't."

"I don't think my attitude's the problem."

"People with bad attitudes often don't"

"Natsu, just stop talking." Natsu just shrugged. "Ok, since you don't want it." He then consumed the rest of the meat in one bite. As he rose out of his seat, Natsu once again turned to Lucy. "Don't forget, you need to find somewhere to live." Lucy pouted. "I know that. I'll go work on that now actually." Lucy walked out of the guild. "She'll be back," Natsu said dryly. "How come?" Mira asked. Lucy returned a few seconds later with an embarrassed look on her face. "Any suggestions on where I could find an apartment?"

Natsu stood off to the side as Mira helped Lucy. She provided the celestial spirit mage with maps, directions, and a price chart for nearby apartments. Feeling prepared this time, Lucy headed off again in search of an apartment. Mira then turned her attention to Natsu. "Did you need something as well?" she inquired. "Not particularly," Natsu responded. "I just want you to spend the day with me." The white-haired woman paused. "I'd love to Natsu, but I have to work."

"Nonsense," Natsu said, as he slung the young woman over his shoulder. He then yelled out, "Gramps! Mira's taking the rest of the day off." **Natsu that is not what people mean when they talk about picking up women.**_ Huh? Am I lifting her wrong or something? _Zeref sighed. **That joke went completely over your head. Never mind, carry on.** _Ok then, _Natsu replied, slightly confused.

With that, the dragon slayer began walking out of the guild with Mira struggling in his grip. "Wait! Natsu, put me down. Or at the least, get your hand off of my butt!" Gray watched Natsu's retreat with an amused grin. "Enjoy your date Mira," he called after the duo. "Shut up Gray!"

"Where are we going?"

"I don't know. Where do you wanna go?"

"The ground would be a nice start."

"You wanna go into the ground? Bad choice of words Mira." As soon as she saw the smirk on Natsu's face, she knew she had made a mistake. "Wait Natsu. Don't drop me… Ow!" But it was too late. Natsu had already dropped her. "You're a jerk!" Mira said as she huffed away. "Aw, c'mon Mira," Natsu said as he went after her. "I was just playin' around." **Looks like she's fallen for you. **_I'm guessing that was some kinda joke but I don't get it. _Zeref sighed again. **Seriously. That went over your head as well? **_It's not my fault. You just suck at telling jokes. _**At least my jokes don't make my friends mad at me. **_That's 'cause you don't have any friends. _Zeref was silent for a moment. **Shut up Natsu.**

Natsu caught up to Mira and grabbed her hand. "Wait Mira," he said. "I'm sorry. Please don't be mad." The young woman brought her hand up to her face in thought. "I'll forgive you," she started. "If you take me out to lunch." **Don't do it. You're being suckered. **_It's just lunch. What's the worst that could happen? _"That's it?" the dragon slayer asked the former demon. "And you have to let me get whatever I want," Mira added with a smirk. **I'm warning you. **_It'll be fine. I have plenty of money. _**If you want to keep all of that money you should listen to me. **_Listening to you has a habit of going very wrong for me. _**That is true, but usually that's on purpose. This time I'm actually trying to help you. **_I find that hard to believe. _**Ok. Have it your way.**

"Sure thing Mira. I'll take you anywhere you want, and you can get whatever you want." When he saw the smirk pass across her face, Natsu briefly thought that maybe he should have listened to the evil voice in his head.

* * *

_Seriously!? Even I couldn't eat that much. _**I do believe that I told you so. **_Not now Zeref. I'm in the middle of a crisis here. _**You know, you could always just dine and dash. **_No way! That would be stealing. And besides, they know where I live. _**You'll be living on the street if you let her keep ordering things. **_It's not like I can stop her. I told her that she could order anything she wants. _**Take a tip from the dark side on this one; welch you fool! Welch!**

"Are you sure you don't want any of this pudding Natsu? It's delicious."

"No thanks. I'm fine."

"Are you sure? You are paying for it after all…" _Rub it in why don't ya? _Natsu thought to himself. _You know what? I am paying for all this. I'm at least gonna get my money's worth. _Natsu then ate the spoonful of pudding Mira was holding before he began to eat any scraps she had left behind on any of her numerous dishes. After he was done with this, the dragon slayer licked every plate, bowl and fork clean. **Wow Natsu. Why don't you eat the plate while you're at it? **_Believe me, I'm trying._

Natsu stopped trying to gnaw through the dishes when he saw the waiter approaching with the check. "Hello Natsu," the waiter said. "Here's the check." He then turned to Mira. "You may want to cover your ears."

Natsu's heart skipped a beat when he saw how much money he owed. "WHAAAAT?" he yelled. "This is robbery. I-I think I need to lay down."

"That's just the check for the desserts, actually." Natsu began to feel light-headed when the waiter pulled out a second check. "This is actually the check for the main course." After seeing the total, the dragon slayer clutched his chest and wordlessly fell to the ground. Mira covered her mouth with her hand. "Oh whoops," she said worriedly. "I guess I went a little too far."

"Don't worry," the waiter told her calmly. "This happens from time to time." He then signaled to someone in the back. A man in a white coat came out, his hands cackling with lightning.

"So, who's the poor sap?"

"Right over here." After rubbing his hands together, the man in white approached the fallen dragon slayer. "Sorry buddy. No dying until the bill is paid." He then slammed his electrified hands into Natsu's chest to revive him. "Huh," Natsu said as he sat up. "I just saw a really bright light. Where did it go?" He then saw the check on the ground. "Oh hey, it's coming back." "I have a little bit of money," Mira chimed in before he could faint again. "It's not much but it's still something, right?" "But it's still so much," the pink-haired teen whined. "I know. I went a little overboard. I'm sorry."

Natsu reached into his pocket for his wallet. "It's fine. No point crying about it now," he said. _Doesn't mean I'm not going to though._ "Waaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh! My monnnnnnnnnnnnneeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeyyyyyyyyyyyyy!" "I'm sorry," Mira said meekly as she handed over her money. The two then exited the restaurant, a cloud of gloom hanging over them.

* * *

"Well at least the food was good."

"Yeah. The plate wasn't half bad either." Mira giggled. "You're so silly Natsu." The dragon slayer smiled in response. "Where'd you get so much money anyway?" "That's classified information."

"Aww, come on. You can tell me."

"Yeah but I don't want to."

"Natsu…"

"Mira…"

"Natsu."

"Mira."

"Natsu!"

"Mira!" **Get a room you two. **_Why? _**Because you're screaming each other's names. **_What does that have to do with rooms? _Zeref was silence for a moment. **You're messing with me right? You can't be that dumb. You have to be doing that on purpose. **_I don't know what you're talking about. _**Then excuse me. I have to go bang my head against a wall. **_Have fun buddy._

"Are you listening to me?" Mira asked, snapping Natsu out of his head conversation. "Huh? Sorry, I zoned out for a minute." The white-haired girl sighed. "You zone out a lot. Is something wrong?" The dragon slayer shook his head. "No, everything's fine. I just like to talk to the evil voice in my head sometimes." Mira gave the teen an odd look. "Evil voice in your head? Don't be ridiculous Natsu."

"I'm serious. It tells me to do terrible things, like dining and dashing instead of paying the bill at that restaurant, or stealing S-class jobs. It also makes really awful jokes." Mira giggled. "I don't think that's an evil voice," she told him. "That's just your stupid brain." Natsu huffed. "My brain isn't stupid. I'm practically a genius." Natsu waited for the inevitable sarcastic comment from Zeref, but was surprised when none came. _Huh. Guess he wasn't kidding about beating his head against a wall._

"Oh really? Because I don't think a genius would have challenged Master that many times."

"I would like to point out that I almost won a couple of times."

"Or what about that time you stole Erza's cheesecake?"

"It was the only way to get her to fight me. And again, I should point out that I had that won until Gramps stopped us."

"How about when you went storm chasing with Laxus?"

"Ok, that was a bad idea. I'm willing to admit that."

"And geniuses definitely don't have an irrational fear of boats."

"I don't fear boats. I have an irrational hatred of boats."

"That's equally stupid. Just face it Natsu, you aren't very bright. But don't feel bad, not everyone can be smart."

Natsu began to feel slightly annoyed by the barrage of insults. Unfortunately, the voice in his head returned at this moment to add insult to insult. **She's right though, you are pretty dumb. In fact, I'm pretty sure there are a few Vulcans that would outscore you on an IQ test. **_Welcome back Zeref, _the dragon slayer replied dryly. _Glad to see slamming your head into a wall hasn't damaged your desire to insult me. _**Of course not. It's my current joy in life. **

Natsu growled. "Whatever. Well if you're so damned smart, you should know that stupid people get violent when you insult them." Mira smirked. "I'm not worried," she said matter-of-factly. "We both know you wouldn't hurt me."

"Normally you'd be right, but the evil voice in my head told me to kick you in the head." **No I did not, but that's not a bad idea. Kick her in the head. **"You wouldn't," Mira said smugly. "You're right," he replied, giving her a larger smirk in return. The young woman warily took a step back.

"If I'm right, then why are you smiling like that?"

"Because I just had a better idea. I'll give you a spanking instead."

"Y-you wouldn't dare."

"Do you really think so?" At this question, the white-haired girl turned around and ran away. "Come back here Mira!" Natsu yelled as he took off after her. "Accept your fate and I might go easy on you." "No you wouldn't you liar!" Mira yelled back. "I know, but it was worth a shot." The girl paused when she realized that voice had come from right beside her. "What? How did you— AAAGH!" She shrieked as the dragon slayer pulled her over his knee.

"Can't we talk about this?" Mira pleaded. "Sure," Natsu replied, surprising the former Take Over mage. "If you can give me one good reason why I should let you go, I will." Mira quickly tried to formulate a response. "Well, umm… I don't know. I didn't really expect that to work." The dragon slayer landed a solid swat to her rear end, causing the woman to jump slightly. "Well then," he said with a laugh. "Since you don't have any objections…"

"Wait! You shouldn't spank me because…" she paused to think while Natsu continued to smack her butt. "Ow! Aren't you supposed to let me— OW! — answer before you continue?" Natsu paused briefly to answer her. "Technically yes," he agreed. "But I was gonna ignore whatever reason you gave anyway." Mirajane huffed as the dragon slayer spanked her once more before allowing her to get back on her feet.

"You're a jerk Natsu." Natsu smirked in response. "Yeah I know. But in my defense, you have a nice butt." Mira turned her face away from him to hide her blush. "Umm, thanks, I guess. Now if you're done being a pervert, I think we should get back to the guild."

**Tell her you'll catch up to her later. I wanna talk to you about something. **_What is it? _**Time travel stuff. Now tell her to beat it. **_That's rude Zeref. _**I'm a rude person. **

"You go on ahead Mira," Natsu said, turning his attention back to the barmaid. "I've got something I have to take care of." "I could go with you if you want." The dragon slayer responded with a dismissive wave. "It won't take long. I'll just go by myself." Mira gave him a questioning look before turning away to go back to the guild.

_Ok, so what did you want to talk about? _**Well first off what was that? **_What was what? _**That whole thing with that Mirajane woman. Is she your girlfriend?**_ No. Me and Mira are just friends. _**How many of your friends do you regularly spank? **_Umm, none. That'd be pretty weird. _

**That's why I'm asking. **_I'm not following Zeref. _Natsu then heard a faint pounding sound. _What's that? _**I brought part of the wall with me. I figured I'd need it. **_You're weird. _**I'm weird? You're the one who… back on topic. How do you feel about Mirajane? **_She's a really good friend. _

**Is that all? **_Yeah we're just friends. _**Well you two obviously like each other. **_No we don't. I'm telling you, we're just friends. _**Then why did you spank her? **_We were just playing around. _**Playing around? Seemed to me like you were trying to get some Fairy tail. **_Huh. I don't get it._ Natsu then heard more pounding.

**Moving on. What I really wanted to talk to you about was the timeline, Mainly how you haven't been following it. I wanted to ask you what your plan was. **_Why would I need a plan?_ Natsu asked in a confused tone. **You-you're kidding, right? **_Yeah, just messin' with ya. You mean to beat Acnologia right? The plan's simple; fight strong enemies, get stronger, then kick his ass. _**So in other words, you haven't put any thought into this. **

_I have actually. I think about it a lot, but there isn't much more that I can do about it. I have plenty of time anyway. _**Don't be so sure about that. If you keep messing with the timeline things could happen very differently from how you expect them to. **_You worry too much. I haven't even made any major changes. _**You've been stealing S-class jobs. **_I have to test my strength somehow, don't I? Besides, me and Gray have managed to complete them all, so what's the problem?_

**The problem is that you could be drawing the attention of dangerous individuals. All it takes is you making enemies with the wrong person and everything we know could become useless. **_I don't think that's gonna happen. And what do you mean everything WE know? _**I can look at your memories. Did I forget to mention that? **_I doubt that you forgot. That's helpful though because I really can't remember when I'm supposed to do a lot of things. I know that the next important place I go is Galuna Island, but can you tell me when I need to go? __**Actually you're skipping a couple of events **_Zeref thought to himself. _**I probably should tell him, but I'm already being more helpful than I have to be. **_Zeref then looked down with pride at the 'not-as-much-of-a-jerk-as-you-could-have-been' medal that adorned his chest.

**You've got plenty of time, **Zeref said, returning his attention to the dragon slayer. **You don't need to go to Galuna Island for a few weeks. **_In that case I'm gonna go steal another S-class job. _**Did I not just warn you about doing that? **_Didn't I already tell you that I tend to do the opposite of what you tell me to? _**How did that work out for you last time? **_That was only one time. There's no way you could be right twice in a row_

* * *

"How have you not been caught yet?"

Natsu had just stolen another S-class job, and now he and Gray were waiting for Lucy to pack so they could leave. "Because I'm amazing." "Nah, I don't think that's it," Gray said, his shirt now missing. "Honestly I think Gramps knows already," Natsu responded. "But he hasn't told me to stop yet, so I'm gonna keep doing it." At that moment Lucy returned with her supplies on her back. "So what is this mission anyway?" Natsu looked down at the paper in his hand. "It's a bounty job worth five million jewels." Gray and Lucy both had the same reaction. "Five Million?! What did this guy do?"

"It's a woman actually. It says here that she's killed ten people. Each one of the victims had all of the blood removed from their bodies." Lucy grimaced. "Maybe this isn't such a good idea…" "I agree with Lucy on this one," Gray added. "Maybe we could take a job that doesn't involve vampires." "Oh stop being chicken you two. And Gray, put your pants back on." Gray looked down to see that he was indeed wearing nothing but his boxers. "Oh crap!" he exclaimed as he began looking around for his clothing.

"Natsu, I really don't think this is a good idea," Lucy said to the dragon slayer. "Oh stop worrying," Natsu said confidently. "I'm not scared of any stupid vampires." **You're pretty confident for someone who's about to be vampire food. **_Shut up Zeref. _"I'm not scared either, but I would rather my blood stay where it is," Gray said as he returned to the group, now fully clothed.

"That's it!" Natsu yelled as he grabbed both of their hands and began to lead them off. "No more whining! We're going and that's that." Both Lucy and Gray groaned, which Natsu ignored. "The flyer said that the blood woman was last seen in Alia, do either of you know how to get there?" Gray suddenly began to smile. "You know Natsu," Gray started a little too happily. "The only way to get to Alia is by boat." Natsu stopped walking.

"On second thought, maybe taking this mission isn't such a good idea." To Natsu's surprise, he felt Gray pulling him forward by the hand. "I changed my mind actually," Gray said. "We already have the job, we might as well complete it. Don't you agree Lucy?"

"Huh?" Lucy asked, confused by the sudden turn of events. _He doesn't want to go because we'd have to take a boat? _She then remembered that he had mentioned his hatred of boats before, when he was cackling madly while watching one burn. Her expression turned to a smirk. "I do agree Gray," the celestial spirit mage said as she began pulling Natsu along as well.

"Dammit guys!" Natsu yelled, as he tried to pull himself free to no avail. "I don't wanna go! Let me go! Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!"

* * *

_I hate you Zeref. _**Don't blame me. You're the idiot who picked the mission. **_Well it's your fault that I can't stand boats. _**No it isn't. You hated boats long before you met me. In fact if it wasn't for me, you'd have motion sickness, so you should be thanking me. **_I would sooner jump off this boat than thank you for anything. _**I have a feeling that's how this is gonna end.**

"Umm, Natsu are you alright?" The dragon slayer snapped out of his thoughts. "Huh, did you just say something Happy?"

"Yeah. I asked if you were ok."

"Yeah I'm fine. Why do you ask?" Lucy was the one to answer this question. "Because it's really hot in here!" Natsu then looked up to see that both Lucy and Happy were covered in sweat. _Since when do cats sweat? _He thought to himself. **Since when do cats talk? **_Good point._

"Sorry about that guys," Natsu said as he stopped his magic output, allowing the room temperature to return to normal. Lucy sighed in relief. _Whew, it feels so much better now. _She then noticed that someone was missing. "Hey where'd Gray go?"

"I don't know," Natsu replied. "He said something about getting far away from this soon to be flaming deathtrap." _So he knew this would happen, _Lucy thought. _Why didn't he take me with him? _"Natsu, why do you hate boats so much?"

"He got stranded on a boat one time," answered Happy. "Then he blew it up."

"Hey! I wasn't trying to blow it up. I was trying to keep it from sinking."

"Then maybe you shouldn't have blown it up."

Natsu growled. "Just be glad I didn't blow this one up." Happy shrugged. "Wouldn't hurt me," he said. "I can fly. You and Lucy are the ones who'd be outta luck."

"Hey why would you let me drown?" Lucy asked. "Because you look heavy," Happy said bluntly. "I do not! I'm in great shape."

Natsu ignored the bickering duo as he continued to think about his hatred for boats. _I hate you Zeref. _**I don't care. **_If I sank this boat, how long would it take to swim to Alia? _**Don't sink the boat Natsu. That would be an incredibly stupid thing to do. **_But I wanna. _**Well too bad. It'd be mildly inconvenient for me if you drowned. Do something to take your mind off of it. **_Like what? There's nothing to do on this damned thing. _**Let's play I Spy. **_Hell no. _**Fine then. Play with Lucy.**

"Hey Lucy, play with me." Lucy looked at the dragon slayer in confusion. "Umm, what?" "I said I want you to play with me." Natsu then heard Zeref snickering in his head. _What are you laughing at? _**Nothing Natsu. It's nothing. **"Natsu, what do you mean by that?" the blonde woman asked with a blush. "He means he wants to play a game," chimed in Happy. Staring at the innocent expression on the dragon slayer's face, Lucy concluded that the cat was probably right. _Doesn't mean I can't have a little fun with him though._

"So Natsu," Lucy said coyly "Which part of you do you want me to play with?" It was Natsu's turn to stare in confusion. "You can play with my whole body Lucy." **Hahahahahahahahaha.** _Why are you laughing? _**If you honestly don't know, there isn't any point in me telling you. Hahahahahaha.**

_Oh whatever, _Natsu thought before being pulled from his thoughts by the sound of more laughter. He looked up to see both Lucy rolling on the floor in laughter. "Natsu that's inappropriate," said Happy. "It's ok," Lucy said through her laughter. "He doesn't know any better."

Natsu scowled. "Don't talk about me like I'm five." The celestial spirit mage began to pet the dragon slayer's head. "You're not five. But you're just so… OW!" Lucy yelled as Natsu's hair heated up, burning her hand. She then jumped back as the flaming aura expanded around his entire body. "You wanna laugh at me huh?" Natsu asked. "Let's see how funny you find this."

Lucy continued to jump farther back as more of the room continued to heat up. "I wasn't laughing at you Natsu," she lied. "I was laughing at Happy. Isn't that right Happy?"

"Nope she's lying," Happy said calmly. "But you probably should stop that before you set the boat on fire." As if on cue, part of the boat caught fire. "Too late, the boat's on fire."

"How can you be so calm right now?" Lucy asked as she ran around in a panic. "What do we do?"

"Oh I know," Natsu said as he approached the flames. He then tried to blow them out. "I don't think that's going to work," Lucy commented dryly. **Ready to admit that I was right yet? **_No way. The job hasn't even started yet. _**And yet you're still managing to screw it up. **_Shut up Zeref._

* * *

Gray was pleasantly surprised. When he and Lucy had dragged Natsu onto the boat, he was sure something was going to go horribly wrong. Amazingly, Alia had just appeared on the horizon, and the boat was still afloat. He was heading back to the cabin the others were in to tell them the good news when he heard yelling.

"…If you hadn't set the boat on fire!"

_Well so much for that, _Gray thought. He then headed back up to the upper deck of the ship.

"Attention everyone!" Gray called out. "My idiot friends set the boat on fire and it's only gonna get worse from there. Luckily I'm here to evacuate you all." As Gray expected, everyone started to panic as soon as he said the word 'fire'. "Yeah, nothing is ever easy with Natsu involved."

* * *

"Glad to see you guys finally made it."

"I don't wanna hear it stripper," Natsu said as he pulled Lucy and Happy to shore. "You coulda helped ya know." Gray smirked. "Yeah, but I had to get all these other people to safety." The people he saved on the boat let out a brief cheer. "Besides, I figured you had it under control."

"If by under control you mean watching Lucy summon a bitchy celestial spirit who flooded the boat with water and then having to swim all the way here, then yeah, I had it under control." A blue-haired mermaid with a tattoo resembling the Aquarius zodiac symbol on her collarbone emerged from the water at that moment. "Did you just call me a bitch?" she asked menacingly as the water behind her began to move. "Oh no!" Lucy exclaimed as she searched for Aquarius's key. "Crap where is it? I need that key right now… never mind, I can find it later." She stopped searching for the key when Natsu kicked Aquarius into the ocean.

"Wow that was quite a kick."

"No kidding. That fish is still going."

"Umm, Natsu, you're probably gonna pay for that next time I have to summon her."

"I'm not scared. Tell her to come get some whenever she's ready." **This has already been a disaster. **_No kidding. But I'm gonna turn it around now. This job is gonna be smooth sailing from now on. _**Natsu, you have to know better than that by now. **_Yeah I know. This job is gonna be a freakin' disaster. _

* * *

**AN: Well, this is the longest chapter I've written, but not a whole lot happens. I hope you all enjoy it anyway. And also, ****I don't usually write author notes because I never have anything to say, but I thought I'd take the chance to thank you guys for reading. I really enjoy writing this story and I'm glad you guys enjoy reading it. So thanks.**


	5. Pointless Riddles and a Mad Scientist

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail blah blah. This should be a given by now.**

Chapter 4: Pointless Riddles and a Mad Scientist

"So, what do we do now?"

"We start looking for the target. Natsu, is there a picture of her on the flyer?" Natsu pulled out the flyer and examined it. "Nope," he answered. "There is a description though. It says she's a young woman wearing a blood-red cloak that covers most of her body. It also says that she's very pale."

Lucy turned pale upon hearing this. "Anyone else think this sounds like a vampire?" she asked nervously. "No kidding," replied Gray. "I don't have any wooden stakes. I wonder if an ice stake would work."

"Don't be silly," Natsu told his teammates. "There's no such thing as vampires. Now it says we're supposed to meet a guy named Marcos for more information. He'll be in the creepy house with the occasional lightning strikes around it."

"Natsu stop being silly," Lucy chided. "I'm not," Natsu said, handing the flyer to the blonde. "That's actually what it says." The celestial wizard scanned the paper to find that Natsu was telling the truth.

"Well that's absurd," Lucy noted. "It's sunny today. There's no way thunder's gonna…"

*BOOOM*

"AAAHHHH! Where did that come from?"

"Over there." Gray pointed to a dark grey house with dead trees on the sides. "Why is it dark over there?"

"Maybe there's a vampire in there too," Happy whispered into Lucy's ear, causing the girl to jump. "You little jerk!" she yelled at the flying cat. "There are no vampires!" She jumped again when Natsu grabbed her hand. "Let's go find out," he declared as he walked towards the house, pulling Lucy along.

"Do we really have to?" Lucy asked nervously. "Yep," Natsu responded. "Unless you're scared."

Lucy huffed. "I'm not scared. I can't wait to go into the spooky, creepy, dark, evil-looking house."

"Then why are your legs shaking?"

"Shut up Happy!" The blonde woman then stomped off, dragging the dragon slayer along with her. "Come on Natsu. Let's get this over with."

"Goodbye Natsu," Happy called after them. "I'll miss you."

"No you won't," Gray said, grabbing the cat and walking after his teammates. "You're coming too."

"But I'm too cute to die! And your shirt is missing."

"Oh crap."

* * *

"Hello," Lucy called out as she stood in front of the door to the spooky (creepy, dark, evil-looking) house. "Is anyone there?" she then muttered to herself "what kinda person doesn't have a doorbell?" _Then again maybe that's a good thing. Now we can just leave. _"Oh well," Lucy said as she turned to leave. "We tried. Might as well go home."

"Nonsense," Natsu said as he kicked the door down. "See. The door's wide open for us." The dragon slayer took three steps before the ground collapsed under him.

"Happy catch me!" he cried out as he fell into the darkness.

"No way am I going in there."

"TRAITOR!" Gray sighed as he jumped down after his friend/rival. "Dammit Natsu! Mira's gonna kill me if I lose your sorry butt." Happy seemed to change his mind rather quickly, because he was the next to follow them. "I know I'm gonna regret this, but I'm comin' Natsu!"

Lucy sighed. "Don't really have much choice, do I?" After taking a moment to steel her nerves, the blonde followed after her teammates.

* * *

"Is everyone alright?"

"Ow my head."

"I'm fine."

"Gray your clothes are missing."

"Oh crap."

"That's everyone. Anyone see an exit?" The group began looking around at their surroundings. They were in a large, bare room. Gray looked up to see that the floor they fell through had somehow been replaced. _I wonder how that happened._

Everyone jumped at the sound of moving gears. Turning toward the source of the noise, the group saw one of the walls opening up. "I guess we're going that way then," Natsu said. "Well, might as well get started."

"Wait!" Lucy yelled. "You just fell through a floor. Who knows how many other traps are in this place." Natsu nodded. "That's true, but it's not like we can stay here. I doubt anyone's coming to rescue us anytime soon."

"Natsu's right," Gray added. "Besides, waiting around is boring. I'd rather deal with traps than sit here doing nothing." Lucy sighed. "I guess we'd better get moving then."

Answer this riddle to continue

"A riddle? This is bullshit! I wanna punch things, not think."

"Complaining about it isn't gonna solve anything Natsu," Gray said to his fiery friend. "Let's just answer it and keep moving." He then turned his attention back to the riddle written on the door.

A murderer is condemned to death. He must choose between three rooms. The first is full of raging fires, the second holds assassins, and the third contains lions that have not eaten in 3 years. Which room is the safest for him?

"What do you guys think?" Gray asked his teammates. "The fires," Natsu blurted out. "If he's like me, a little fire's nothing but a snack to him." Gray sighed. "I doubt he's a dragon slayer Natsu, so he'd just burn to death."

"Oh yeah." _What do you think Zeref? _**I think that I know the answer and that I won't tell it to you. **_Aww, why not? _**Because I'm a bad person. **"So much for that. What do you think Lucy?"

"I don't know," the Celestial Wizard pondered. "The assassins maybe. He could always try begging for mercy."

"That's even worse than my answer."

"Shut up. It could work."

"Chopping his arm off and feeding it to the lions could work too, but I don't think that it would." Natsu and Lucy continued to argue until Happy chimed in.

"It's the lions dummies." Everyone turned their attention to the blue cat. "Why do you think that?" Natsu asked. "Because I was thinking," Happy started. "At first I thought how much I'd hate to go three years without fish. Then I thought 'I couldn't live without any food for three years'. Then I realized that was true. Anything that doesn't eat for that long would be dead." As the cat finished his exposition, the door opened, revealing another door behind it. The group was confused until they saw another riddle written on this door. "Oh son of a bitch!"

Good job. Now for a harder one

"Screw this!" Natsu yelled as he prepared to punch the door down. "You shouldn't do that," Gray stated as he intercepted the dragon slayer's fist. "Why not?" The ice mage sighed. "Because it could be rigged to explode or something if you mess with it. Let's just solve the riddle." He then read the riddle out loud.

"Four men were in a boat on a lake. The boat turns over…"

"Another reason to hate boats."

"Yes Natsu, boats are terrible. Anyway, the boat turns over, and all four men sink to the bottom of the lake, yet not a single man got wet. Why?"

"That's easy, it's because they were all—"

"If you say fire dragon slayers I will hurt you."

"—never mind then." _Zeref? _**This one I don't know. I'm thinking some type of magic but that would be far too obvious. **_Right. So magic is out. Any other ideas? _**Yep. Let you figure this out on your own. **_That's mean. _**Still a bad person.**

"Maybe they all had on scuba suits," Natsu guessed.

"Well, now that the stupid answer is out of the way, let's try to find the right one."

"Shut up Gray. I don't hear any answers from you."

"That's because I know my answers are dumb, which makes me smarter than you."

"We'll see how smart you are when I punch your face in."

"Bring it, Hot Head."

"Oh it's coming Ice Queen."

"I told you to stop calling me that."

"Make me."

Lucy ignored the fighting of her guild mates while she pondered the question. _None of the men got wet. How could that be possible? We fell in water and we definitely got wet, how could all of them stay dry? _The blonde then had an epiphany. _Wait a minute. It didn't say none of them got wet, it said 'not a single man.' _Lucy smirked. "I got it!"

Natsu and Gray paused their battle to look at her. "What?"

"I know the answer," Lucy repeated excitedly. "None of the men were single!"

"That doesn't make any sense Lucy," Natsu said in confusion.

"Sure it does. 'Not a single man' doesn't mean none of the men got wet, it means no single men got wet. That's because all the men were married." The door swung open, revealing a third one.

"Oh mother… what the… AAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHH!" words then appeared on the door.

Hehehehe, just kidding. You may proceed. This door then collapsed, allowing the group to finally leave the room. There was a collective sigh of relief as they headed into the next room.

The feeling of relief was short-lived however, as the next room was an obstacle course. It started with a walk along a narrow plank, leading to a rock wall that had to be scaled. On the other side of the wall was a minefield. Past the minefield was a spiked ceiling that crushed anything under it on timed intervals… and that's as far as Gray examined before his patience ran out. "Screw this. Natsu, go ahead."

"Oh yeah, I'm all fired up!" the dragon slayer yelled as an aura of flame appeared around him. "Stand back everyone. Fire Dragon's Roar!" Natsu released a large blast of flame from his mouth, incinerating all obstacles, including the plank and the spiked ceiling.

"Wow," Lucy said. "That was pretty cool."

"Yeah, what Natsu lacks in brains he makes up for in coolness."

"Damn straight. Now let's go." The group easily traversed the scorched obstacle course. Gray formed an ice bridge where the plank used to be, they stepped over the now-two-feet-tall rock wall, strolled through the field that was once a minefield and stepped around the spikes that fell from the ceiling.

Having completed their harrowing journey, Team Natsu (minus Erza) came upon another door with familiar writing on it.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"Calm down Natsu. Let's see here. There is a prison… I already don't care. Natsu, do your thing."

"Yahoo!" One destroyed door later and the mages were on to the next room. It was a large, empty room with strange markings in the center of the floor.

_Hey Zeref, what do those symbols do? _**They're for transportation. If you step on one, it will take you somewhere else. **_Ok. I'm goin' in. _**Do I really need to explain why that's a bad idea? **_Yes. _Zeref sighed. **You have no idea where they lead. It could be a pit of lava for all you know. **_But lava wouldn't hurt me. _**Ok, that was a bad example. It could lead to a boat then. **_In that case I'm not goin' in._

"What do we do now?" Lucy asked. "We should start by figuring out what those markings mean," answered Gray.

"They're transport circles," Natsu supplied.

"How do you know that?"

"Evil voice in my head."

"Whatever. Should we see where they lead to?"

"I won't. You have fun with that though." As Gray was contemplating this, two of the circles began to glow. After a moment two figures appeared, both standing on a glowing circle. As the glow faded, one of the men stepped forward to address the intruders.

"Hello. My name is Marcos, and this fellow behind me is Heiza." Marcos was a tall man, a few inches taller than Gray, with curly white hair and light stubble on his chin. His outfit consisted of a white lab coat over a light blue undershirt and a pair of brown slacks. On his feet he wore a pair of brown boots that matched his pants. The outfit combined with his unsettling smile gave Marcos a distinct 'mad scientist' look.

Heiza on the other hand was a young man with short, black hair. He stood no taller than Natsu, with a similar build. He wore a white shirt with a black circle in the center and black sleeves and black pants. On his feet were a pair of socks; one white, one black._  
_

"I'm glad you made it this far."

"What the hell was all of that old man?" Natsu demanded.

"Natsu don't be rude," Lucy chided. "It's fine," Marcos spoke. "By 'all of that', I assume you mean the riddles and the obstacle course, which was expensive by the way. Those were tests." Heiza cut him off. "He's lying," he said with a smile. "We get bored here, so you guys were some entertainment.

"What!?" Team Natsu said in unison. "You tellin' me this was all just a setup?" Natsu asked. "All of it, no," Marcos replied. "This was all on a whim honestly." He ignored the scowls on the faces of Team Natsu as he approached them with a paper in his hand. "I believe this may be of use to you."

"What the hell is this?" Natsu asked as he snatched the paper. "It's a picture of your target," the middle-aged man answered. Seeing the distrust in their eyes, he added "You are still taking the job, right? It would be such a shame if mages from the great Fairy Tail turned down a job because some riddles got the best of them."

"You're damn right we're taking the job," Natsu replied. He then looked down at the picture in his hands. It revealed a woman in a red cloak that covered most of her body. Her face was completely concealed by a hood, but her eyes appeared to shine from underneath it.

"Where'd you get this picture?" the dragon slayer asked. "If you were close enough to take this, then surely you could've taken her down yourself." He noticed that the aged scientist's face briefly contorted into a grimace, before returning to a smile. The man opened his mouth to retort, but was cut off by Natsu. "Doesn't really matter. It's our job now and we'll take care of it. Come on guys." He began to walk away, with Gray and Lucy following.

"Does this not seem suspicious to you?" Lucy whispered to the dragon slayer. "We'll talk about it outside," Natsu responded.

It was only once they returned to the room they started in that the group remembered why they had gone exploring. "Oh yeah," Gray said. "There's no exit. Guess we have to go back." He then noticed Natsu take a deep breath and look up to the ceiling. "Or maybe not."

"Fire Dragon's Roar!" Gray created a flight of icy stairs to reach the hole the dragon slayer created in the ceiling. As they climbed the stairs towards freedom, all of them had the same thought. _I'm so glad to be outta that place._

* * *

"So, are you gonna use them?"

"No."

"None of them?"

"No. The fire one did catch my interest. He's pretty strong as well. Making him any stronger wouldn't be very smart."

"Guess so. Do you think they'll get her?"

"Don't care."

"You don't care?"

"Not in the least."

"Then why'd you go through all this trouble?"

"I was bored. When you've lived as long as I have, you have to invent things to do. This is just one of the things I came up with."

"I guess. We should go then before we miss the entertainment you worked so hard for."

* * *

"What are we gonna do now?"

"We're gonna find this woman."

"Why?"

"Because something's fishy about all of this."

"So then why are we still doing the job?"

"We aren't. I wanna find this girl to ask her about that creepy scientist."

"That's really our only option," Gray chimed in. "Everything about this job has been suspicious. Bounty jobs are supposed to come directly from the council, and I have a feeling that he's not a council member. Not to mention that house. That Heiza guy even admitted they were just messing with us. The question though is why would they set all of this up."

"It's not like we can just go back in and asked them," Natsu said. **Well you could, just not if you like living. **_Thanks Zeref. Helpful as always. _**Thanks. I try. **_Then why are you almost never actually helpful? _**I never said I try hard, just that I try. **"Our only lead is the woman. Maybe she can give us some answers."

Lucy pointed out the obvious flaw in this plan. "But how do we find her? We don't even know if she's still here." The dragon slayer paused. "I didn't think about that," he admitted. "I guess we just walk around and look for her. If we don't find her here we go to other places."

"Is that the best idea we have?" Lucy asked. Happy and Gray shrugged. "I guess we're going with that then."

* * *

Gray quickly realized that they hadn't thought this through. Alia was a huge city with a river running through the middle. They had been searching for two hours and had only covered a quarter. Lucy had suggested taking a boat tour to cover ground quicker, but Natsu and Gray both refused. Natsu because he hated boats, and Gray because any boat that Natsu was on had a pretty good chance of sinking.

_This isn't working._ **You may be the only one surprised by that. **_Hey Zeref. Have you come back to be 'helpful' again? _**No. I think I've helped you enough today. **_You haven't helped me at all. _**I find that to be quite enough. **_I find you to be quite an evil bastard. _**I find you to be quite stupid. **_You look like a ten-year old! _**You have pink hair. **The dragon slayer sighed. _Shut up Zeref._

"Hey Natsu, are you alright?"

"Huh? Yeah I'm fine Lucy. Why do you ask?"

"It's just that you look distracted."

"Don't mind him," Gray said. "He's just talking to the voice in his head."

"Voice in his head huh? That explains so much." Happy then began to sing. "Natsu's crazy! Natsu's crazy!"

Natsu sighed. **You do have an evil voice in your head, so you just might be crazy. **_Shut up Zeref. _**You know, when you say that it just means that you don't have a retort and that I've won. **_Shut u—go to hell Zeref. _**That counts too.**

Natsu stopped walking while thinking of a response to Zeref before being pulled from his thoughts when he noticed the others looking at him. "I think we should call it a day," he covered. "We've been looking for a while and I'm hungry."

"Me too," Happy said. "Buy me some fish Natsu."

"Sure thing buddy. Just need to find a restaurant." The dragon slayer began looking around before he froze. "What are you looking at?" Gray asked. Natsu took off running. "That's her!"

Lucy watched him in confusion. "Where's he going?" she asked Gray. "I'm not really sure," Gray replied. "We should probably make sure he doesn't blow anything up though."

* * *

That had to be her. As he was searching for a place to eat, Natsu had spotted someone wearing a blood-red cloak. They were heading away from him, so he couldn't see the face, but it had to be her. No way could there be two people in this town with a cloak like that (_Well, unless Zeref decided to come here and screw with me, which, now that I think about it, is a real possibility._)

**Don't worry, I was busy and couldn't make it to Alia in time. **_Wait, you were really gonna do it? _**You've known me for two years. You really shouldn't be surprised at this point. **_Good point._

As Natsu got close, the figured turned to look at him. He noticed that they wore a hood that shrouded their face completely. The figure wore a cloak that covered their entire upper body and gloves to cover their hands. They also wore long black pants and heavy boots. The only hint that this was a woman was the gentle swell of her hips. _Think this is the one? _**It's a woman in a red cloak with her entire body covered like she's a vampire. If you think you can find someone who fits the description any better, feel free to keep looking. **_I don't appreciate your sarcasm. _**I don't really care.**

"Is there a reason you're staring at me?" the woman asked the dragon slayer.

"Huh? Oh sorry." Natsu responded. "I just wanted to ask, is this you?" He handed her the picture Marcos had given him. She silently studied it for a moment. "Where did you get this?" she asked?" Natsu noticed that she sounded angry.

"A guy named Marcos gave me it." **You're an idiot Natsu. **_How come?_ This question was answered for him when the woman grabbed him by the front of his shirt. "Why?" she demanded.

"What?"

"Why did he give you this?" She pulled him closer, allowing him to see under her hood. Natsu stared at her. Her skin was so pale. If she wasn't moving right in front of him, he would swear she was dead. The woman quickly realized that the dragon slayer was staring and pulled away, but Natsu continued to stare.

"You look like a corpse," he finally spoke. Zeref sighed. **It's like you're trying to get her to kill you. **_How? She is really pale. _**She's covering herself up because she doesn't want people to see that. It's pretty rude to just point it out like that. **_Wait, what do you care? _**Honestly I don't. But my life gets harder if you get yourself killed, so I'd prefer it if you didn't.**

The dragon slayer was pulled from the conversation when he noticed someone snapping their fingers in his face. "Seriously?" the woman asked him. "First you stare at me, then you insult me, and now you're ignoring me. Could you be any ruder?"

"Well I could point out how scary you look." The woman took a deep breath. "Could you please just tell me why you have that picture of me?" she asked as calmly as she could.

"Funny story actually," Natsu replied. "I was sent here to capture you." **And strike three. You're out. **

The dragon slayer was sent flying by a red tendril that extended from the woman's cloak. _What the heck was that? _He wondered as he made his way back to his feet. **I believe it's typically referred to as an attack. **_Can you say one helpful thing today? _**Ok. You should probably move. **Natsu jumped to the side to avoid another tendril.

"So it's a fight you want huh?" Natsu took a deep breath before releasing a large stream of fire from his mouth.

"Fire Dragon's Roar!" Rather than move out of the way, the woman blocked the flames with her cloak before quickly putting it back on.

"You idiot!" she yelled. "We're in a city you know. You could've blown up someone's house."

Natsu waved a hand dismissively. "Eh, the council would fix it. More importantly, what's up with that cloak?"

"It's magic."

"Are you being sarcastic?" The woman stared at Natsu for a second. "Yes," she said. "I'm being sarcastic. It's not magic. I just blocked a fire blast with a regular old cloak."

"Ok now you're clearly being sarcastic." Natsu ducked as another tendril was swung at his head. "By the way, what's your name?" **Do you really expect her to answer that? **_No, but it doesn't hurt to try._

To both Natsu and Zeref's surprise, she actually did answer him. "My name's Vela." _Ha, it worked. In your face. _**You do realize that's probably an alias right? **_Doesn't matter. She answered, which means you were wrong. In. Your. Face. _**Don't you have more important things to worry about right now? Like asking her about the mad scientist maybe. **_Oh yeah.__  
_

"Any more questions?" Vela asked.

"Actually, yeah. Why does Mar…" the dragon slayer was cut off by a red tentacle hitting him in the face. "Too bad."

As he stood back up, Natsu began jumping around and wiping his tongue with his hands. "Eww!" he yelled. "Some of it got in my mouth! You bitch, that's so disgusting!" **Aren't you being a little melodramatic? **_That's blood! And it got in my mouth. _**I remember the first time I tasted blood. Good times…**

_..._

**What?**

_Please tell me that's a joke. _

**It might be.**

Natsu turned his attention back to Vela, his eyes narrowed in anger. "You're gonna pay for that."

"Don't blame me," Vela said in a neutral tone. "You started it."

"No I didn't. You attacked me! I was just trying to ask you some questions."

"Well go ahead. Ask away."

"Too late," Natsu said as he leapt toward her, fire gathering on his fists. "You're goin' down."

"I'd rather not," Vela responded as she launched a wave of blood at the dragon slayer.

* * *

"Man, that is some creepy magic."

"Shouldn't we do something?"

"I doubt we even could."

Gray and Lucy were watching the battle from a safe distance. "You see, Natsu has a habit of making people want to punch him. Add that to the fact that he's never met an opponent he didn't want to fight, and that makes this situation a disaster."

"But don't we want that woman to cooperate with us?"

"The two of us do. Doesn't seem like Flame-Brain does."

Lucy sighed. "Great. So what do we do now?"

Gray smirked. "When we get done here we'll probably just march back up to that creepy castle and start kicking ass."

"That doesn't sound like much of a plan."

"Yeah it's a terrible plan. But at least it'll be fun."

* * *

**Well here's the latest chapter, and the start of my first original story arc. I'm so excited! I kinda wish I had included Erza in this but it's too late now.**

**Well anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed it. Leave a review and I'll update soon.**


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